Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Matt Ford, Ph.D., P.E.

Dr. SkySkull @drskyskull.bsky.social · 18h

Every single "I voted for Trump but I didn't expect this" person is a goddamned idiot.

Rachel Maddow @maddow.msnbc.com · 1d

"His family is also affected. His wife is likely to pay about $1,200 or more each month, up from about $500 in 2024, he said.

'I voted for Trump,' Reynolds said. 'I didn’t expect this'...”

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Why Republicans’ attempts to kill Obamacare keep backfiring

The White House and some Republicans are growing nervous that Democrats’ demand to boost Obamacare as part of a government funding bill has salience with voters.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Morgan Meneses-Sheets @morgmeneshets.bsky.social · 19h

Rest in peace and in power, Miss Major. You gave so much to so many at Stonewall and for decades after. You are an inspiration to keep fighting the good fight! Thank you.

#Momsky

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, activist since Stonewall, has died

The LGBTQ+ community — and particularly the transgender community — has lost an iconic activist.

www.advocate.com

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Matt Ortega @mattortega.com · 22h

Did people all get hit in the head with the a hammer at the same time? What is going on?

Business Insider @businessinsider.com · 22h

Some military leaders are turning to AI chatbots for help with decision-making, seeing this tech as a way to get the advantage.

Even top generals are looking to AI chatbots for answers

Some military leaders are turning to AI chatbots for help with decision-making, seeing this tech as a way to get the advantage.

www.businessinsider.com

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Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 1d

Fox Propaganda is desperately spinning the "No Kings" events in fearful anticipation of their success.

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Matt Ford, Ph.D., P.E. @zeotherm.bsky.social · 23h

Even Newsmax refused.

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Tyler King @tyleraking.com · 1d

Republicans are panicking and absolutely dumbfounded that doubling health insurance costs is losing them the shutdown blame game. They got by for a decade on “Obamacare is socialist.” But after Pandemic-era subsidies made ACA insurance surprisingly affordable, their voters aren’t so gullible.

Sahil Kapur @sahilkapur.bsky.social · 1d

NEW: Obamacare fight escalates as shutdown drags on

Speaker Johnson calls the expiring subsidies at issue a "boondoggle" that won't be extended in this bill—or without "real reform."

Democrats aren't budging, saying action now is urgent to avert a premium hike.

www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...

Mike Johnson slams Obamacare funds as a 'boondoggle' as shutdown drags on

Johnson also addressed conservative calls to repeal Obamacare, whose enhanced tax credits form the main dispute between the two parties that led to the funding impasse.

www.nbcnews.com

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Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 2d

Chicago priest Fr. Larry Dowling describes procession to ICE facility: “No one had the courage to speak directly to us. No one from Homeland Security could stand in the presence of the Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. No wonder. Evil is repelled, recoils in the presence of Christ.”

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Eric Umansky @ericumansky.bsky.social · 1d

ICE agents blocked an ambulance that was trying to take an injured protester to hospital.

"We are still not being allowed to leave by ICE officers.” an EMT said on radio

When driver tried to get out, an agent yelled, "DON’T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN, I WILL SHOOT YOU"

www.wweek.com/news/2025/10...

Documents Allege a Federal Agent at Portland ICE Threatened to Shoot an Ambulance Driver

Feds delayed medics who had come to pick up an injured protester. Then, according to confidential incident reports, the agents became aggressive.

www.wweek.com

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Micah @rincewind.run · 1d

a foundational belief of the modern right is that there is no such thing as organic disagreement with their policies, it’s all directed from the top down

they just can’t conceive that ordinary people find them horrifying

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Sean Duffy: "The No Kings protest, Maria, really frustrating. This is part of antifa, paid protesters. It begs the question who's funding it."

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thinkingbayonet.bsky.social @thinkingbayonet.bsky.social · 1d

I now realize that for my entire adult life, I've had a very narrow conception of what "supporting and defending the Constitution" means. Standing on business when armed agents of the State are knocking on your door is way more important, by a country mile, than anything I did overseas

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 1d

Border Patrol “attempted to arrest a plumber working inside a Logan Heights home but left empty-handed after the homeowner refused them entry.

The homeowner told agents she would not allow them inside because the warrant they presented did not include her address and lacked a judge's signature.”

Federal immigration operations target San Diego neighborhoods, sparking community resistance

Federal immigration agents conducted operations in Logan Heights and Southeast San Diego on Friday, with community members capturing footage of the enforcement actions.

www.10news.com

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George Conway 🇺🇸🚫👑🐸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 1d

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Peter @notalawyer.bsky.social · 1d

the actual story here, which the media never talks about, is that police in this country have become a discrete right-wing political operation. the story isn't about cops leaving (they're lying about that), it's about the police trying to exert influence over elections.

Mark Misoshnik 🏴 @misoshnik.bsky.social · 2d

Lmao is this supposed to be a bad thing?

A tweet from Bari Weiss that says “"It's shaken me to my core," a lieutenant said of Mamdani's unexpected victory in June. "The absolute dread I feel is palpable.
"
Today in @TheFP our @Olivia_Reingold talks to the cops who say they will walk if Zohran Mamdani is elected in November:”

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Iron Spike @ironspike.bsky.social · 1d

lol liars, every one. Chicago cops threatened to quit if Brandon Johnson was elected mayor. Police union leader LITERALLY threatened "blood in the streets," saying between 800 to 1,000 would walk.

Guess what never happened.

And even if they'd made good on that threat... OK??? BYE????

Mark Misoshnik 🏴 @misoshnik.bsky.social · 2d

Lmao is this supposed to be a bad thing?

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Emma Evans @trance.bsky.social · 1d

Remember kids, you don't have to be Columbo.

Feds? Op? Dumbass?

Doesn't matter, AVOID AVOID AVOID

Listen to your LOCAL community leaders.

Jake @jakeythesnakey.bsky.social · 1d

This is such an astoundingly bad idea that I kinda think it’s a false flag or an op of some sort

Merits aside, it is insanely easy to be caught if you do this and the punishment for doing this is much more severe than you’d guess.

(@faineg.bsky.social often writes on stuff like this)

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🎃 Trick or Pete 🎃 Lucier @peterlucier.bsky.social · 1d

After commenters deriding the appearance of TX NG troops made photos of their deployment to Chicago go viral, the Texas Military Department quietly recalled and replaced them

For their appearance.

They didn’t send the Guard to serve.
They sent them to be seen.

taskandpurpose.com/news/texas-n...

Some Texas National Guard troops replaced in Illinois after failing to meet standards

An unspecified amount of Texas National Guard troops were replaced in Chicago, shortly after photos of their appearance were mocked.

taskandpurpose.com

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Dr. SkySkull @drskyskull.bsky.social · 1d

Since there's not alt text: UPS is just starting to "dispose" of some shipments from overseas.

Rachel Maddow @maddow.msnbc.com · 1d

tell me more about republicans being the pro-business party.

www.nbcnews.com/business/bus...

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Sirius B @aowl.bsky.social · 2d

Kavanaugh stop

Tom Joscelyn @tomjoscelyn.bsky.social · 2d

“I spent three nights and three days in federal custody. During that time, I was never told what I was charged with, was not allowed to shower despite being covered in tear gas and pepper spray, had no phone call to my family, and no access to an attorney.” - George Retes, U.S. citizen and veteran.

I’m a US citizen and a veteran. ICE arrested me for no reason.

Jailed for three days without an explanation or ability to notify anyone, George Retes argues the only path to healing starts with the government taking accountability for its actions.

newsletter.ofthebrave.org

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vijay iyer @vijayiyer.bsky.social · 1d

In case you’re hearing about the “protest that turned violent” in Boston last week, here’s the “violence” in question, per the police report

Following the protest, four officers were taken to the hospital for treatment of injuries. One officer had a broken nose and had his glasses broken, another was treated for pepper spray exposure, one sustained a finger injury while handcuffing and another sustained a lower back injury attempting to make an arrest.

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Karen Fisher, PhD @fisherke.bsky.social · 1d

-80 freezer at -20

Marjorie James Keenan @unenthusiast.com · 2d

In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.

rm -rf ~/

hammancheez @hammancheez.bsky.social · 2d

"The chancellor approved it"

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 1d

This two-parter below is exactly why it's hard to make clothes in the United States.

Let's look at how much it costs to produce a button-up shirt in the US. 🧵

Someone on Twitter replies to me: "meh. buy american or stfu."

Two hours later, in a separate thread, the write: "$30 for a single button-up is ridiculous unless it is decent quality silk."

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Andrew D Thaler @drandrewthaler.bsky.social · 1d

This, more than anything I've seen, really goes a long way to explaining why so many of these dudes think ChatGPT is conscious.

Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 2d

thiel, man, what the fuck are you talking about

He describes the plot of Watchmen, a 1986 graphic novel involving superheroes grappling with moral questions about humanity against the backdrop of impending nuclear war:

The antihero Ozymandias, the antichrist-type figure, is sort of an early-modern person. He believes this will be a timeless and eternal solution – eternal world peace. Moore is sort of a late-modern. In early modernity, you have ideal solutions, ‘perfect’ solutions to calculus. In late modernity, things are sort of probabilistic. And at some point, he asks Dr Manhattan whether the world government is going to last. And he says that ‘nothing lasts forever.’ So you embrace the antichrist and it still doesn’t work.

Thiel later finds biblical meaning in the manga One Piece, discussing how he believes it represents a future where an antichrist-like one-world government has repressed science. He believes that the hero, Monkey D Luffy, represents a Christlike figure.

In One Piece, you are set in a fantasy world, again sort of an alternate earth, but it’s 800 years into the reign of this one-world state. Which, as the story unfolds, gradually gets darker and darker. You sort of realize, in my interpretation, who runs the world and it’s something like the antichrist. There’s Luffy, a pirate who wears a red straw hat, sort of like Christ’s crown of thorns. And then towards the end of the story, transforms into a figure who resembles Christ in Revelation.

Thiel, along with a researcher and writer at Thiel Capital, explored these ideas at greater length in an essay for the religious journal First Things earlier this month.

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Old White Nepo Hat @kenwhite.bsky.social · 1d

Unfortunately the warnings were ”being cops” and “having tear gas”

Heather Cherone @heathercherone.bsky.social · 1d

A federal judge ordered federal agents last week to issue two warnings before using tear gas.

Witnesses said they heard no warnings and none can be heard on videos, @chicago.suntimes.com reports

Heather Cherone @heathercherone.bsky.social · 1d

Federal agents deployed tear gas after Albany Park residents protested to their attempts to detain a resident of the Northwest Side neighborhood, @vimiller.bsky.social reports for the @chicago.suntimes.com

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Mueller, She Wrote @muellershewrote.com · 2d

Help me out here. When did Biden take office? Who was the FBI director on January 6th? Who appointed that FBI director?

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Matt Ford, Ph.D., P.E. @zeotherm.bsky.social · 2d

Unpossible

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Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 3d

"The Labor Department warned in an obscure document filed with the Federal Register last week that 'the near total cessation of the inflow of illegal aliens' is threatening 'the stability of domestic food production and prices for U.S. consumers.'”

Trump administration says immigration enforcement threatens higher food prices

U.S. farmers face labor shortages and potential food price hikes due to Trump’s immigration policy, the administration acknowledged in a Federal Registry document.

wapo.st

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